Phil Tufnell
Philip Clive Roderick Tufnell
Born: 29 April 1966, Barnet, Hertfordshire
Major Teams: Middlesex, England.
Known As: Phil Tufnell
Batting Style: Right Hand Bat
Bowling Style: Slow Left Arm Orthodox
Test Debut: England v Australia at Melbourne, 2nd Test, 1990/91
Latest Test: England v Australia at The Oval, 5th Test, 2001
ODI Debut: England v New Zealand at Perth, World Series, 1990/91
Latest ODI: England v New Zealand at Christchurch, 1st ODI, 1996/97
Career Statistics:
TESTS
(including 23/08/2001)
M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 42 59 29 153 22* 5.10 22.17 0 0 12 0
O M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 1881.2 505 4560 121 37.68 7-47 5 2 93.2 2.42
ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS
(including 20/02/1997)
M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 20 10 9 15 5* 15.00 48.38 0 0 4 0
O M R W Ave BBI 4w 5w SR Econ
Bowling 170 12 699 19 36.78 4-22 1 0 53.6 4.11
FIRST-CLASS
(1986 - 2002)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 316 349 136 2066 67* 9.69 0 1 106 0
O M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 12822. 3489 31026 1057 29.35 8-29 53 6 72.7 2.41
LIST A LIMITED OVERS
(1988 - 2001)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 93 36 22 125 18 8.92 0 0 17 0
O R W Ave BBI 4w 5w SR Econ
Bowling 777.1 3327 103 32.30 5-28 4 1 45.2 4.28
- Explanations of First-Class and List A status courtesy of the ACS.
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Profile:
A left-arm orthodox spinner of great talent, Phil Tufnell has had a
patchwork career, marked by moments of greatness, but often failing to find
favour with the selectors, despite being one of the few spinners in the
English game who can single-handedly win matches.
Tufnell's greatest gift is that of flight, bowling to perfection the
classic slow left armer's delivery that curls into the batsman and dips. As
he has matured he has become more accurate, and he varies his pace cleverly.
His run up is long for a spinner, and idiosyncratic. Starting with the ball
in his right hand, he throws himself a catch to his left hand in the first
two paces, after which he makes the third stride a hop on his left foot
before approaching the wicket conventionally.
At times Tufnell resorts to containment by bowling wide of the leg stump
from over the wicket, but he takes more wickets with a conventional
approach. His nickname "The Cat" refers to his propensity for sleeping
whenever the opportunity arises, rather than any feline tendencies in the
field. He has had a deserved reputation as a weak fielder, but over time has
improved to the point where he can occasionally pull off quite startling
catches and stops. His batting is ineffective, showing a distinct dislike
for any hostile bowling above medium pace, and he is normally placed eleven
in the order.
First picked for England on the 1990-91 Ashes tour, Tufnell made his mark
in his second Test by taking 5/65, but he has never established himself in
the England side. Much-publicised domestic difficulties, resulting in a
court appearance, did little to dispel rumours of a difficult temperament in
his younger days at Middlesex. He was even known deliberately to bowl
leg-side long-hops when not given the field setting he asked for.
On his day, Tufnell blends aggression, patience and guile to take
wickets, and even on a non-turning wicket can be relied upon to hold an end
down for most of a session. On a "raging bunsen" he can be unplayable. He
has matured with age, both on and off the field, and his omission from the
1998-99 Ashes party, when he was clearly the best spinner in England, was a
puzzle to many. If the national selectors continually overlooked him, he did
win the attention of international selectors to be chosen for a Rest of the
World XI to play an Asian XI in a one-day match in Dhaka. In something of a
microcosm of his career, he managed to put down both Sachin Tendulkar and
Saurav Ganguly off his own bowling before getting them both out.
Tufnell continued to enhance his reputation as the best spinner in the
domestic game, and in the 2001 season he went past the 1,000 first-class
wickets mark as he took exactly 60 at no more than 28.68 each. At the end of
the season, he was still 23 runs short of reaching 2,000 in first-class
cricket, despite going out to bat on 334 occasions!
Tufnell was never going to get a recall to the England side to fill an
all-rounder's role, but his bowling was such that he forced his way back
into the Test team to face the Australians at The Oval at the end of the
Ashes series. On a flat pitch and against an outstanding batting line-up,
his figures disappointed his army of fans; he took one wicket for 174 in his
39 overs. To be fair he bowled better than those figures would indicate, but
it was not enough to gain him selection in the winter touring parties.
Tufnell continued to bowl with craft and control in the domestic game and
helped Middlesex to promotion from the second division of the county
championship with 45 wickets, to say nothing of a disciplinary warning when
he unwisely reacted to a long, hot, frustrating day in the field. And he
finally went past the 2,000 run mark - even if an innings of 45 failed to
lift his career average above ten. (Copyright CricInfo October 2002)
Portrait photograph by Paul Sturgess,
Copyright Sportsline Photographic +44 (0)1455 273320,
Thanks to The Cricketer.
Last Updated: Saturday, 09-Nov-2002 07:38:00 GMT
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